News@TheU will be sharing photos and video and nuggets of insights throughout the College Football Playoff run by the Miami Hurricanes. Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium features Miami against Indiana.
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Find multimedia content, photos and video, in this report.
CFP National Championship
Sunday, Jan. 18
Miami’s team hotel for the CFP title game has a rich history of its own
The big, orange charter buses pulled up to the front of the famous Miami Beach hotel off Collins Avenue on Friday evening, a horde of journalists taking photographs and film footage of the young men in their late teens and early 20s who disembarked and began walking into the resort.
A helicopter buzzed overhead, as someone from a small group of curious spectators yelled, “Let’s go Canes!”
Miami Hurricanes had arrived at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, their team hotel for the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Ever since it opened more than 70 years ago, the iconic 1,500-plus room property has been the place for hosting important guests and being the scene of big events.
At its Dec. 20, 1954, grand opening, Liberace performed on the piano, and Groucho Marx proclaimed the hotel, “The Eighth Wonder of the World.”
That was just the start of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s storied reputation as the place to be, as it hosted a veritable who’s who in the entertainment industry in the years that followed—from Bob Hope and Lucille Ball to Jackie Gleason, Judy Garland, and Princess Grace of Monaco.
In 1960, the hotel served as a setting for Jerry Lewis’s comedy film “The Bellboy,” and that same year, Frank Sinatra filmed his ABC television special “The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis” at the resort.
The Fontainebleau Miami Beach was featured in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger—the legendary property immortalized in the picture’s opening creds and in a dramatic scene involving the henchman Oddjob.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the hotel continued to serve as a celebrated site for Hollywood films, including a memorable scene in Brian De Palma’s “Scarface,” which starred Al Pacino. In the 1992 film “The Bodyguard,” the hotel is featured in a pivotal scene in which Whitney Houston performs the hit song “I Will Always Love You” from a stage inside the property.
As the times changed, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach changed with them. A $1 billion renovation and expansion project completed in 2008 revitalized the historic hotel. And it celebrated its grand re-opening that year in style, hosting the annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show, with performances by Usher and Mariah Carey.
Now, the hotel can add to the list of important guests it has accommodated: the Miami Hurricanes football team.
-- Robert C. Jones Jr.
Sunday, Jan. 18
A history of the Hurricanes vs. the Hoosiers
Get ready for chapter three.
When the Miami Hurricanes square off against the Indiana Hoosiers on Monday in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium, it will mark just the third time in history that the two programs have faced each other on the gridiron.
The two schools last went head-to-head during the 1960s, with Indiana defeating Miami 28-14 in 1964 before Miami tied the series with a 14-7 victory in 1966. Both games were played at the Orange Bowl.
The No. 10 Hurricanes are just one victory away from their first national title since 2001. Miami defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 31-27 on January 8 in the Fiesta Bowl to secure their spot in the National Championship game.
The No.1 Hoosiers, meanwhile, punched their ticket to the title game after a convincing 56-22 victory over the Oregon Ducks in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal. Monday’s matchup will be Indiana’s first-ever appearance in the national title game.
Miami, which has captured college football’s ultimate prize five times, will play on its home field when it vies for its sixth title on Monday. But don’t expect to see the Hurricanes in their traditional orange home jerseys. Because the Hoosiers are the higher seed, Miami will be the visiting team and will wear its white uniforms.
For superstitious Canes fans, that comes as good news. The Hurricanes have won not only all three of their College Football Playoff games in their white jerseys but have also captured all five of their national titles wearing white jerseys.
“Come Monday,” 34-year-old Hurricanes fan Gean Rodriguez said Saturday at media day for the team, “I’m confident the streak will continue.”
-- Robert C. Jones Jr.
Sunday, Jan. 18
Broward fanatics ready for game day
Michelle Ameerally remembers huddling backstage with her battery-operated “hurricane television” as soon as she finished her role as Diana Morales in “A Chorus Line” one night in a Fort Lauderdale theatre. Ameerally, an alumna and lifelong Canes fan, was watching the 2003 Fiesta Bowl game against Ohio State, which sadly, the team lost.
Fast forward about 20 years, and her Miami Hurricanes are paving a very different path.
“I am thrilled with excitement for this national championship game. Iin fact, I’ve been on cloud nine since we qualified for the playoffs, and I think all the Broward alumni are ecstatic too,” said Ameerally, who is now president of the Broward Canes Community.
That enthusiasm was palpable on Friday night, when Broward alums gathered outside Caneswear, an alumni-owned clothing store, for a pep rally in the parking lot with cheerleaders and Frost Band of the Hour to fire up fans who live a little farther north than Coral Gables.
“There’s a ton of excitement everywhere,” said Ken Graff, co-vice president of programming and past president of the Broward Canes, as well as part-owner of Caneswear. “We can see that by the amount of posts on social media and the insane amount of orders at the store. While in January, there’s usually a lull, this year people are coming in everyday like it’s a game day.”
Although she is a double Cane, Ameerally’s passion for the University ignited well before college. Her fondest childhood memories were of football games at the Orange Bowl with her parents. The family drove south from their home in Pembroke Pines to downtown Miami for each home game and spent many a Saturday parking in a grassy lot near the Miami River, then walking to the stadium.
“We went to all the games at the Orange Bowl, and sat in the endzone—section CC,” she said. “Those are core memories that are irreplaceable.”
Since earning her degrees from the Frost School of Music, Ameerally has made sure her own family continues the traditions. She is ecstatic to have a ticket to the national championship game on Monday and has her outfit prepared. Ameerally got her nails painted orange (with green dots), plans to wear a lucky orange and green bracelet that her father gave her, and an orange jersey with the name of her favorite player, Casey Rizzi, who is also a former student. After graduating from the Frost School in 2001, Ameerally worked as a professional actress, and opened her own performing arts school in Davie in 2006.
“I have many former students who are now at UM, and nothing brings me more happiness than when they tell me about how far the University has come,” she said.
Ameerally got involved with the Canes Community a few years ago and met Graff then. While both will be at the game Monday, they have been working with their board to organize two watch parties for the 15,000 alumni living in Broward County. One will be held at the Carolina Ale House in Weston, where 15 percent of food and drink sales from Canes supporters will go to the Broward Canes student scholarship fund. Another is planned for Dave & Busters in Hollywood, where the business will give 20 percent of sales from the game to the same scholarship fund, thanks to the help of an alumnus who works in group sales there. Anyone interested can register here to attend either Broward County watch party.
And since there is so much interest in the Canes, Paragon Theatres has also offered to show Monday night’s national championship game for free in their Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, and Davie locations. Graff said he is heartened by the renewed pride for the Canes.
“At both the Cotton Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, the amount of UM fans that traveled for these games was amazing,” said Graff, who also grew up attending games with his parents. “This run is unique because nobody even really gave us a shot, but the players have been constantly getting better and showing that they care and producing. So, there’s a lot of positivity and reinforcement, which is great.”
Come Monday, he is just grateful he will be able to be there.
“Right or wrong, win or lose, I want to be able to be in the moment and experience the game for everything it’s worth,” Graff said.
-- Janette Neuwahl Tannen
Saturday, Jan. 17
At media day, Hurricanes offensive lineman, Francis Mauigoa, an Associated Press All-American, poses for a selfie with a fan.
Saturday, Jan. 17
Fans, players take center stage at Playoff Fan Central and media day
Ask 12-year-old Mason what he wants to be when he grows up, and he emphatically exclaims: “A football player.”
Not just any football player, but one in particular: a Miami Hurricane football player.
“I put his first University of Miami hat on him when he was just a day old,” Mason’s father, Mike Gonzalez, said Saturday inside the Miami Beach Convention Center, proudly displaying a cellphone photo of his eldest son wearing an orange knit hat with the U logo. “He’s been wearing Cane gear ever since.”
The two, along with a second son, 10-year-old Jeremiah, had come to the exhibition hall for Playoff Fan Central, a three-day interactive experience that gives fans the chance to be a part of the College Football Playoff National Championship in the lead up to Monday’s game between the Hurricanes and the Indiana Hoosiers.
Fans could test their leg strength by kicking a field goal; take a quarterback challenge by tossing footballs through stationary tires; pose with replicas of the Sugar, Rose, and Peach Bowl trophies; or walk through a tunnel and onto a turf-lined WWE ring while holding National Championship props aloft.
Dozens of other skills challenges were available, but the games were of secondary importance to Gonzalez and his two sons. They had come to the convention center for media day, a parallel event where Miami Hurricanes football players and coaches assembled in an area adjacent to Playoff Fan Central.
Fans could not enter the area; steel barricades prevented their entry. But they pressed against the barriers to a clear view of all the action—head coach Mario Cristobal, wide receiver Malachi Toney, and offensive lineman James Brockermeyer among those who answered questions from the media.
Mason spotted his favorite player, Toney. “I like him because he is wise beyond his years,” said the 12-year-old, referring to the star receiver reclassifying to skip his senior year of high school.
Justin Rodriguez, who attended Playoff Fan Central with friends and family, joked that he’s been a Hurricanes fan “ever since I’ve been wearing diapers.”
He was lucky enough to get an autograph and pose for a picture with one the Miami defensive unit’s stalwarts, cornerback Keionte Scott. “This year, we’ve got the defense to go all the way,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll be at Hard Rock on Monday to see history in the making.”
-- Robert C. Jones Jr.
Saturday, Jan. 17
McKenzie Eason takes a deeper dive in her coverage of the Miami Hurricanes
A dossier of data on everything from quarterback sacks and tackles to touchdowns and turnovers, the stat sheet from a football game is an open window into how and why a team won or lost a game.
But an athletic competition, said McKenzie Eason, “is more than a numbers game.”
“There’s always a story behind the stats,” said the University of Miami broadcast journalism major.
So, Eason often looks beyond the box score to report the news, lifting the veil to reveal the human side of athletes, such as how the death of a loved one inspires a running back to run or how a player learns perseverance after overcoming a rash of injuries.
For the past month, she’s been an Erin Andrews, Molly McGrath, and Pam Oliver—three of the top female sportscasters—all rolled into one, covering the Miami Hurricanes’ storybook run in the College Football Playoff as a beat reporter for UMTV’s SportsDesk.
She produced look live segments at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where Miami upset the No. 2-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 24-14, and she posted news content to social media during the duel in the desert—the Hurricanes’ edge-of-your-seat win over Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl.
Her coverage of the CFP comes to a climax on Monday, when she and a team of other SportsDesk reporters and multimedia specialists will work inside at Hard Rock Stadium as the Hurricanes vie for their first national title since 2001 against the No. 1-ranked Indiana Hoosiers.
Ahead of the big game, Eason interviewed Miami coaches and players at media day on Saturday at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
She is captivated and inspired by the story of Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher Jr., whose father, known as “Big Mark,” passed away in October 2024 just two days before the team’s rivalry game against Florida State. “He’s always been a pleasure to interview and willing to share his story,” Eason said. “It’s heartwarming to see student-athletes like him who have been at the U for their entire collegiate careers. He’s a true Cane at heart.”
So is Eason. But being a diehard Hurricanes fan has never hampered her ability to maintain objectivity in her reporting. “I’m still able to push that side of myself aside and ask the tough questions,” she said.
She has employed more social media elements in her coverage of the Canes this season, posting more content on TikTok and Instagram. The latter’s “collabs” feature, she said, has allowed her to garner over 400,000 views on all her football-related posts from the past few games.
Miami’s historic season has helped make it all possible. Come Monday, Eason hopes to file the definitive story on Miami’s 2025 campaign: a victory over the Hoosiers at Hard Rock.
--Robert C. Jones Jr.
Friday, Jan. 16
Scenes from the pep rally
Friday, Jan. 16
Fanatics jam the pep rally
On Friday afternoon, the Lakeside Patio on the Coral Gables Campus was a sea of orange and green with thousands of students, faculty and staff members, alumni and their families celebrating and sharing their pride for the Miami Hurricanes.
Senior David Kuper, chair of Category 5—the student organization that aims to spread spirit for University of Miami sports—took the stage to open the pep rally for the national championship game and quickly introduced Hurricanes football head coach Mario Cristobal to the cheers from fans donning University of Miami shirts, hats, jackets, and beads. Cristobal recalled his last pep rally ahead of the team’s first game this season, when the Hurricanes beat their longtime rival Notre Dame.
“That started the journey of the 2025 UM football team, and you were a huge, huge part of that. I’ll never forget what made that stadium like that that night. You made it an asylum and created a tremendous home field advantage,” he said. “Come Monday, we have an unbelievable opportunity that we have all earned together. What we need from you as we have this unbelievable, historic opportunity is for you to just bring it. Bring that energy, that passion, and that noise and let’s show the entire country what it is to be a Miami Hurricane.”
Cristobal set the tone for a joyous pep rally that got students and community members excited to attend the game or watch the national championship on Monday evening, broadcast from Hard Rock Stadium. Fans danced and held up the U as the Frost Band of the Hour played their football hits, and former offensive lineman and NFL star Byrant McKinnie—who played on the last Hurricanes championship team—kept the spirits high. Many students like junior Courtney Hartung and some of her friends, were still smiling well after the pep rally dispersed.
“I didn’t snag tickets to the game, but I’ll be at the Watsco, front and center,” she said, referring to an on-campus student watch party planned for Monday night. “No matter what, I’m still a Canes fan.”
Her friends, sophomores Eric Rangel and Micah Guice, were lucky enough to get tickets to the national championship game during student sales on Monday.
Guice said the student body’s passion for the Canes helped attract him to the U. All three became friends while sharing their excitement about the University with new students as orientation leaders.
“My high school had great sports and a lot of school spirit, so I wanted to continue someplace like that in college,” said Guice, an accounting and political science major. He added: “I’m feeling pretty good about my choice here.”
Seniors and football devotees Ben Morris and Adella Ott were rejoicing in the fact that their last year at the U included such a great football run.
“After our first few semesters of football went wrong, it feels like it’s all coming together now,” said Morris, who is studying marine affairs and was fortunate to get a ticket to Monday’s game through an early-December raffle.
Ott was envious. Like many other students, she will be watching with friends outside of Hard Rock, but she was able to attend the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve in her hometown of Dallas, as well as the Texas A&M playoff game in mid-December. While Ott is a football fan, and plans to watch the Canes for life, she is glad the national championship ignited an interest in the sport among all students.
“It’s really cool to see people who never cared about football caring about it now,” she said.
Morris said students across campus are very focused on supporting the team Monday, and this season helped to cement his loyalty for the Canes.
“No matter where I go, I’ll always be rooting for the Miami Hurricanes,” he said.
--Janette Neuwahl Tannen
Friday, Jan. 16
A family day
Since Friday was a teacher planning day in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, many fans brought their children, as well as their dogs, to cheer on the Canes. Anyone at the pep rally had a chance to get free orange long sleeve shirts from City National Bank, rally towels that said, “It’s all about the U,” as well as to sample local cuisine like Morelia’s paletas, Miami’s Best Pizza, Playa Bowls, Bartaco, and other treats from Coca-Cola and the Bahamas.
Camilo and Geysell Guarin were standing among the fans listening to football head coach Mario Crisobal and former offensive lineman and NFL star Byrant McKinnie at the pep rally. They both took the day off work to bring their son, Camilo, 7, to the pep rally from their home in Doral. Camilo Guarin grew up living at the U when he was a toddler and his father was in graduate school, and he remembers watching football games on his father's shoulders. Later, he became a student and graduated in 2003.
“We have been going to games for 26 years, and we were here for the last championship in 2001,” said Geysell, who has worked at the Miller School of Medicine for 20 years. “We have been waiting for this moment for a very long time, so we wanted to come out here to support the team. They never give up.”
--Janette Neuwahl Tannen
Friday, Jan. 16
Let the energy begin
Before the pep rally on Friday afternoon on the Coral Gables Campus at the University of Miami, students and fans streamed into the Lakeside Patio and lines stretched across the Westbrook Walkway as music pumped through the breezeway and the Miami Generation Junkanoo Band entertained the crowds of hundreds of Canes supporters.
Matt Kelsen, who graduated with a business degree in 2004, was there with his wife Melania and his daughter Ellie, 10. Kelsen said he and Ellie have bonded through her interest in football this season, and they even got a chance to meet some of the players last week when the team returned from the Fiesta Bowl.
“I absolutely love the Canes now because my dad got me into it,” said Ellie, who was wearing a Canes cheerleader outfit.
While Kelsen will be at the game Monday, he unfortunately could not get a ticket for Ellie so he will be facetiming with her at the game. He said seeing the team gaining so many wins this season is “everything.”
“I won’t say we are back yet, but it seems like we are on our way to that,” he said. “This was the best team in history when I went here, and I love that we’re doing so well this year.”
Meanwhile, students navigated through tents of free samples and games to win Hurricane swag. Alondra Santiago, a sophomore from Homestead, Florida, and Natalie Everest, who just started at the University this semester from Deerfield Beach, Florida, were taking a break from the giveaway lines before the pep rally began. They met in high school and reconnected this week at the U.
“Everyone is supporting the Hurricanes now from everywhere in Florida; even students from UF or FSU want us to win, so these playoffs have really been a great thing because we are all able to connect in support of this team,” Santiago said. “Even the older generations of Canes are coming back, so it’s really cool to see everyone here together.”
--Janette Neuwahl Tannen
Relive the Ride
FIRST ROUND: Miami defeated Texas A&M 10 to 3 on Dec. 20 in College Station, Texas.
Dispatches from College Station
Photos and video from College Station
SECOND ROUND: Miami defeated Ohio State 24-14 on New Year’s Eve at the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas.
Dispatches from the Cotton Bowl
Photos and video from the Cotton Bowl
THIRD ROUND: The Hurricanes defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 31-27 in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, on Jan. 8.
Dispatches from the Fiesta Bowl
Photos and video from the Fiesta Bowl
Watch party at the Rathskeller
